Combined key and guide means for opening cans



p 20, 1955 G. E. DOLLARD 2,718,328

COMBINED KEY AND GUIDE MEANS FOR OPENING CANS Filed March 12, 1954 ATTORNEY United States Patent COMBINED KEY AND GUIDE lVIEANS FOR OPENING CANS Gomer E. Dollard, Lakewood, Colo.

Application March 12, 1954, Serial No. 415,885

1 Claim. (Cl. 220-52) This invention relates to the opening of metal cans and more particularly the type of cans which are sealed and opening is accomplished by rolling up a tear strip attaching the lid to the can body.

One of the objects of my invention is to produce improved guide means for a tear strip can opening key which will assure that the tear strip, as it is rolled up by the key, will retain a rolled condition and the convolutions prevented from slipping off from each other as the can opening is being performed by turning of the key.

Another object of my invention is to produce improved guide means of the kind above referred to which can be associated with the key and attached to the bottom of the can by the same means employed in attaching the key.

A further object is to produce improved guide means for use with a tear strip can opening key which will be fiat and when attached to the bottom of a can with the key will not in any way project beyond the plane of the rim portion of the bottom of the can to cause interference with stacking of the cans.

A still further object is to produce a guide means for a tear strip can opening key which will be very cheap to manufacture, require no can attaching means other than that presently employed to attach the key, and one which will require no special manipulation to put it into use with the key and when in use will be very efficient in maintaining the convolutions of the tear strip in rolled condition as tearing of the strip and rolling takes place by manipulation of the key.

Other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view of a metal can having its lid sealed to the can body with a tear strip and showing my improved guide for the key attached to the bottom of the can along with the key, without employing any means other than that employed to attach the key in the usual manner;

Figure 2 is a view showing my improved guide means in use to prevent convolutions of the tear strip from slipping off from each other as the key tears off and rolls up the tear strip;

Figure 3 is a top view of the key and guide after they have been removed from the can; and

Figure 4 is a view of the key and guide as seen from the sectional line 44 of Figure 3.

Referring to the drawings in detail and first to Figures 3 and 4, there is shown the well known key K which has a hand grasping end and a shaft 11, all made from a single metal rod or wire. The shaft 10 is flattened and has an elongated opening 12 therein for receiving the tab 13 of a tear strip 14 of a metal of tin" can C, by which its lid L is sealed to the body of the can, all as shown in Figure l, preparatory to removing the strip.

The use of the key K to remove the tear strip 14 is well known. It is accomplished by inserting the tab 13 into the elongated opening 12 of the key and then rotat- 2,718,328 Patented Sept. 20, 1955 ing the key in a direction to tear out the strip 14 between the lid L and the body C of the can. As the key is rotated, the strip rolls up around the shaft 11 of the key until the whole length of the strip is torn from its weakened union with the lid and can body. Many persons have considerable difficulty in using the key to remove the entire length of the tear strip because it is not easy to keep the strip winding up or building up on itself as the key shaft is rotated. A slight shifting of the shaft axis from a proper relation with the tear strip will cause a convolution of the strip to slip olf the roll and then the tearing off of the remainder of the strip is difficult.

Many guides to prevent this slipping apart of convolutions have been devised, but none have come into practical use, either because they were hard to use or expensive, or were large and could not be readily attached to a can with the key by the same attaching means that has been long used for accomplishing such attachment.

With my improved tear strip guide, all of these undesirable features are overcome and additionally I have produced a guide which is cheap to manufacture, at least as cheap as the key itself or possibly cheaper.

My improved guide is indicated generally by the reference letter G. It is a flat guide and preferably made from a thin sheet of metal 15. As shown, the guide is rectangular in shape, somewhat like a picture frame, with a rectangular opening or window 16 therein. To make the guide, all that is necessary is to take a flat piece of metal, fold it over on itself and cut the window therein which will go through both superposed sections 17 and 18 of the strip resulting from the fold over. To attach the section of the guide, one of the ends of the folded over sections, such as 17, is turned back over the end of the other section as indicated at 19 in Figure 4. To com plete the guide, the window 16 is cut therein. The guide so formed is now placed on the shaft 11 of the key by spreading apart the sections 17 and 18 and inserting the shaft therebetween, all as shown in Figures 3 and 4.

As is well known, the keys K are attached to the eX- terior of the bottom wall of each can so a key will always be available to open the can. The key generally has an extending section 20 (shown in Figure 1) which is connected to the shaft 11 by a weakening cross groove 21. Thus, when the extension is attached, as by soldering, to the bottom B of the can, the key will be carried fiat on the bottom of the can, but may be easily removed by merely lifting the key and breaking it oif from the connected extension by reason of the weakening cross groove 21.

With my fiat type of guide, it is seen that it can be attached with the key without altering the key attaching means. All that need be done is slip the guide onto the key shaft 11 before attaching the key to the bottom of the can. It will then be held in place on the can, ready for use whenever the key is broken off. Furthermore, it is to be noted that with my flat guide G it will lie tight against the bottom of the can in the same manner as the key. Due to its thinness, it will not protrude much beyond the key shaft and not sutficiently beyond the plane of the outer end of the bottom rim R of the can to prevent stacking of the can in the usual manner.

In using my improved guide, after removing it and the key from the can, all that need be done is to thread the tab 13 of the tear strip into the slot 12 of the key while the slot of the key remains in the window 16 of the guide as shown in Figure 3. There is nothing different to do than what would be done if the guide were not on the key shaft. With the key so threaded, it is turned and the tear strip rolled thereon. The roll will develop in the window 16 of the guide as shown in Figure 2 as the key is rotated. The frame of the guide thus guides the key and assures its axis does not shift so the strip will roll up in an undesirable manner. Also, the frame of the guide holds the convolutions of the roll in place and it is then easy to roll up the tear strip without any danger of the convolutions slipping sideways off the strip.

The guide is very cheap to manufacture as it is only a bent-over strip of material with a window. Because of this cheapness involved, it can be thrown away with the key without any worth while less.

From the foregoing description it is believed to be obvious that I have produced an improved guide for a can opening key of the class described which has many advantages as heretofore pointed out. I am aware that modifications of the guide structure shown by way of example can be made without departing from the fundamental principles of my invention, and therefore I desire it to be understood that the scope of my invention is not to be limited in any manner except in accordance with the structure defined in the following claim and equivalents thereofr What is claimed is:

A guide and key combination for a tear strip normally used for attaching the lid to a can body of the type having a base and a rim depending therefrom, said guide comprising a substantially flat rectangular frame structure consisting of sections in superposed relation, said sections being secured together by having a strip folded on itself with one of the free ends of one section being turned back over the free end of the other section, said sections having substantially coinciding eliminated portions positioned 1ongitudinally therein and forming substantially coinciding rectangular windows, said key including a handle portion and a slotted shaft, said shaft being positioned crosswise of and centrally between the windows and extending transversely therefrom, whereby said shaft is journalled at least in part between faces of said strip, said strip being of thin material and said sections being in substantial face contacting relation except at the sides of the windows, and said handle being positioned on one side of the guide but in the plane of the guide whereby the guide and key may be positioned in a single plane and may be soldered to the can base so that they lie within the area defined by the rim.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 523,465 Dalton July 24, 1894 2,660,331 Inman Nov. 24, 1953 2,680,5 37 Dzialdowski June 8, 1954 

